9 Predictions for Cybersecurity’s Role in Government and Politics in 2017

Government and regulators won’t do it for you

“In 2017, the number of data breaches will grow along with the volume of compromised records, becoming far more expensive for organizations of all sizes,” Information Security Forum’s Steve Durbin says. “Costs will come from traditional areas such as network clean-up and customer notification as well as newer areas such as litigation involving a growing number of parties.” Durbin expects that a result of the increase in data breaches and the related expense will be public opinion pressuring governments around the world to introduce tighter data protection legislation, which in turn will bring new and unforeseen costs. Also, international regulations will create new compliance headaches for organizations while doing little to deter attackers.

The 2016 presidential election ushered in new era. As Grant Shirk, senior director of Product Marketing at Vera, pointed out, it was our first true cyber election. Not only did much of it play out in social media, particularly on Twitter and Facebook, but the election brought attention to how stolen data can be used to manipulate opinions, and it may have presented us with the our first taste of cyber espionage.

“As we enter 2017,” says ThetaRay CEO Mark Gazit, “we will see more and more occasions where cybersecurity is not about computer geeks and IT departments, but about threats to financial institutions and critical infrastructure, including very well-protected mail servers. History has taught us that the warfare arena, including espionage and intelligence gathering, follows technological progress -- and in some cases leads the progress. As such, we will almost certainly see new and more advanced technological solutions being used by governments to conduct cyber warfare, even before they fall into the hands of civilian cyber criminals.”

Here are expert predictions about how cybersecurity will affect and involve our government, policies and politics in 2017.